Unloader for belt conveyers



Dec- 22, 1953 w. K. SINDZINSKI ET AL 2,663,403

UNLOADER FOR BELT CONVEYERS Fig.1

Fig. 2

INVENTOES AT TOR N Patented Dec. 22, 1953 UNLOADER FOR BELT CONVEYERS Willy K. Sindzinski, Berlin, and Willy F. Hamm,

Berlin-Wittenau, Germany, assignors to International Standard Electric Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application October 3, 1951, Serial No. 249,424

7 Claims. l

The invention relates to the distribution of tickets, letters or other such articles by means of conveying belts. More particularly the invention is concerned with those belt conveyors in which the tickets, or the like, stand upright on the belt and are hence said to travel on edge.

The belt conveyors here contemplated are further of the kind having switch tongues arranged along the belt to deliver tickets, letters, or the like to desired stations.-

The invention aims to provide for reliability of the delivery operation and to such end causes the conveyed articles themselves to control this operation. In fact, as long as a ticket, or the like, is sliding along a switch tongue set to deliver it, the ticket acts to prevent the switch tongue from returning to normal, and it does so by controlling a contact device. The switch tongue will thus be compelled to remain operative until it gets rid of the ticket, that is to say until the delivery operation has been finished. The invention thus does away with the necessity for employing timing relays, selenium cells, or other control means hitherto in' use.

The invention will be understood from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a fragmentary diagrammatic plan view showing the delivery mechanism of one embodiment of the invention. Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic sectional view, the section being on line 22 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a wiring diagram of the arrangement that serves to control the delivery mechanism. Fig. 4 is a detail view illustrating how the switch tongue may be mounted in distinction from what is shown in Fig. 1. Like reference characters denote the same parts in the several views.

Referring now to Figs. 1 and 2, l denotes a guide for the conveying belt 2 and for the articles to be dispatched. In a recess of this guide a switch tongue 3 is mounted which has two leaf springs l, 8 fixed to it. Spring 8 rests against a metal part of a roller 6. This roller has a rubber ring 5 that bears against spring 4. The bottom end of roller 6 is in the shape of an enlargement ll suitable to engage with belt 2 in the manner appearing from Fig. 2. The normal position of roller 6 is shown by dot-anddash lines in Figs. 1 and 2. When in this posi tion, the roller is out of engagement with the belt. Its enlargement ll should be of a material that provides for good frictional contact with the belt, or should be coated with such a material. Rubber will be suitable in this regard.

Roller 6 is rotatably mounted on axle 9b which is carried by a lever 9. Axle 9b may be perpendicular to the lever B and parallel with the axis of roller 6. Lever 9 is pivotally mounted at point 9a and carries the armature l2 of an electromagnet II]. This magnet is also indicated in Fig. 3, as are also roller 6 and spring 8, these two constituting the contact RK. A denotes an electromagnetic relay which has two contacts al, 0.2. Electromagnetic relay B has two windings I and II and two contacts bl, b2. Two currentlimiting resistances WI and W2 are provided. A key Ta that serves to initiate the operation of the arrangement is shown in Fig. 3. The grounding points in Fig. 3 are hereafter referred to as positive poles, the arrow heads as negative poles. Each sending station has such a key Ta and, in addition to this, still other keys, each allotted to a definite switch tongue, as is customary in systems of this type.

When any sending station intends to dispatch a ticket to the delivery or receiving station here shown, the ticket is so placed onto belt 2 as to stand on it upright or in an on-edge position, as it is called. Guide I, in which the belt is running, also insures that the ticket remains in this position. Thereupon key Ta. of that sending station is depressed. Relay A thereupon energizes via: back contact bl, Ta contact, winding of relay A, and after operating remains energized via: spring. 8, roller 6, front contact al, resistance W2, winding of relay A, Over contact a2, closed through the energization of A, relay B is .energized via: front contact a2 winding II of relay B, and operates its contacts bl and b2. Contact bl thus completes an energizing circuit for electromagnet In via: front contact bl, winding of electromagnet lll, whereby the electromagnet I0 is energized to attract its armature l2. Accordingly lever 9 and roller 6 are turned from the normal position, shown in dot-anddash lines, to that represented in solid lines. Roller 6, bearing against the springs 4, 8 of the switch tongue 3, takes the switch tongue with it and thus turns the switch tongue from the atrest position, shown in dot-and-dash lines, to the operative position, represented in solid lines. At the same time the enlargement ll of roller 6 comes into engagement with belt 2 in the manner illustrated in Fig. 2. The belt, running in the direction of arrow d, thus rotates the roller in the direction of arrow 1?. By virtue of this rotation of roller 6 the arriving ticket I is seized by the rubber ring 5 of roller 6 and moved by it along the springs 4, 8, the friction between ring 5 and ticket 1 being greater than that between the ticket and springs 4, 8. The roller thus acts to draw the ticket ofi the belt, as indicated by arrow e, and thereby to deliver the ticket.

Since the ticket is of insulating material, its passage through between roller 6 and spring 8 acts to break the contact RK, Fig. 3. Relay A is thereby deenergized. Its contacts al, (:2 are hence restored to normal, that is, to the positions represented. Relay B, however, remains energized via front contact 172, resistance WI. winding II of relay B, As a result, electromagnet Ill remains energized. As soon, however, as roller 6 and spring 8 get rid of the ticket and thus reclose the contact RK, relay B becomes deenergized by counter-current flowing over its winding BI, now included in the circuit: spring 8, roller 6, back contact al winding I of relay B, winding II of. relay B-. Contacts bi. b2 hence return to normal, that is, into the posi-' tions represented. Contact bl thus disconnects the magnet l0. Magnet l0 hence permits its armature 12 to be withdrawn by'the springactuated switch tongue 3 bearing against roller 6, the switch tongue being caused by its spring to reassume its normal or dot-and dash line position and to push the roller 6 and lever 9 likewise into the position of rest, shown in dot-and-dash lines.

The spring of the switch tongue is not represented in Fig. 1, but Fig. 4 shows such a spring. Here the switch tongue is not mounted pivotally but is united with guide I by means of a leaf spring [3 that tends to restore the switch tongue to normal as soon as magnet 10 is deenergized.

It will thus be seen that the delivery mechanism 3, 4, 8, 6,8,12, I0 is operative as long as a ticket or any other such article is passing through between roller 6 and spring 8, which constitute the contact RK, and that, therefore, the delivery mechanism can not become inoperative until this contact ejects the ticket, that is to say, until the ticket has been delivered.

What is claimed is:

1. A belt conveyor for the distribution, to delivery stations along the belt, of tickets, or the like, traveling on edge, each of these delivery stations having a delivery mechanism that comprises a switch tongue and roller means combined therewith to constitute a contact device adapted to be traversed by the article to be delivered, an electromagnet to bring this switch tongue into the delivery position, means to energize this electromagnet, means coupled to said roller means to maintain said article firmly in edgewise position when said article is traversing said tongue, and means, under control of said contact device, to keep the electromagnet energized until said contact device has ejected the article conveyed.

2. A belt conveyor for the distribution, to delivery stations along the belt, of tickets, or the like, traveling on edge, each of these delivery stations having a delivery mechanism that comprises a switch tongue and a roller, these two being constructed as cooperative contact members, an electromagnet to press said roller against the switch tongue and thereby to bring the switch tongue into the delivery position, means to energize this electromagnet, means to rotate this roller in accordance with the direction in which the belt is moving, and means, under control of said cooperative contact members, to keep said electromagnet energized until these contact members have been traversed by the article conveyed. I

3. A belt conveyor as in claim 2, in which said switch tongue carries a leaf spring extending along it and arranged to contact with said roller electrically.

4. A belt conveyor as in claim 2, in which said switch tongue carries a leaf spring, arranged to contact with said roller electrically, and also carries a second leaf spring in frictional contact with said roller, these two springs extending along the switch tongue to constitute a guide for the article conveyed.

5. A belt conveyor as in claim 2, in which the means for rotating said roller is the conveying belt.

6. A belt conveyor as in claim 2, in which th means for rotating said roller is the conveying belt, the roller having an enlargement adapted for frictional engagement therewith.

7. A belt conveyor as in claim 2, which has a leaf spring arranged to constitute the joint of said switch tongue.

WILLY K. SINDZINSKI. WILLY F. HAMM.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,375,241 Trew Apr. 19, 1921 2,138,645 Rey Nov. 29, 1938 

